This is a young sommelier's adventure through wine, liquor and the world. You will find no ratings here. You will find somethings that are sometimes geeky, sometimes irreverent, and always presented in my own unique (and dyslexic) way. Hopefully, the content inspires exploration, a sense of adventure, a good icebreaker for conversation, and even a good sense of humor about the magical juice we call wine, the insane elixirs of ting the world of liquor, and the culture surrounding all of it. .

Monday, April 2, 2012

This is one of the most fun wines I have had in a long time. It is always fun with people take wine for the fun and exciting thing that it is meant to be. It is even more exciting when it is done in a way that is funny, defusing, and almost irreverent. That is exactly what this wine is.

Some Young Punks are a group of wine makers in Australia. Those wine makers, Jen Gardner, Nic Bourke, and Col Mchryde. They are tattooed, loud, arrogant; everything you wouldn't expect for a wine maker to be. Yet, they are everything that I think is amazing about where we can go with wine. As I have often said, I think wine should be knocked down off it's pedestal and allowed to be accessible. These guys turn the expectations of wine on its head. From the commissioned art work on the labels to the wine itself. Today it is the Monsters, Monsters Attack riesling.

The Monster, Monsters Attack is an off dry riesling from Clare Valley, South Australia. This riesling has tropical notes and some great acidity. The cool thing about this wine is the creamy quality that is seen from the slight oak that is used. Normally, riesling isn't put in oak because of the subtile flavors that a lot of wine makers like or the riesling to have. Also, when more sugar is present, the sugars can attach to the inside of the oak and make the flavors imparted on the wine due to the aging more aggressive. As I said, these guys do things loudly and in their own way and this is certainly no different.

The label art is done by an artist from Tel-Aviv named Asaf Hanuka. He works with many large companies like Nike and has a comic series called Bipolar. You should check out some of the art on his website http://www.asafhanuka.com/

So, these guys get a P Funk stamp because of their style, their approach, and their ability to defuse the pomp that wine sometimes can have. Well done guys. Welcome to the team.